Today was such a remarkable day at the feeders that I've made this special note to highlight it.
I set out to photograph healthy birds today. Many individuals we recognised turned up too. I'm too eager to post to do any post-processing on these images - they are raw off the camera, just resized. Might fix that later.
What we'd call a teenage flock dropped in shortly after the feed when out. They were waiting in the gum tree next-door.
That area down the back between the CocaCola sign and the chook yard is where the sanctuary will go. It's much bigger than it looks through the telephoto lens, which flattens everything. The shed will be located at the fence, and the wire enclosure will stick out from there. I'm planning the whole thing to be 3 meters wide by 4 (maybe five) meters long. I want a decent, high flight area for them. This size is planned to accommodate four birds with PBFD. We currently have five I think. The extra bird might have to cram himself in, but I dunno, do you think there will be room?
Mohawk turned up. His crest is crooked, and when excited it fans out all funny, with feathers in every direction. He's lost a few more feathers from around his face since we last saw him.
Sooky
The elusive Sooky was finally spotted and photographed. We first logged this bird way back at the beginning, but I could never get a pic of him. We think this bird is very young - last season's. No matter where he sits, he just squawks at his mum to feed him. He is very predictable and unique in this behaviour. He was at it again today. He gave up in the end and submitted himself to eating from the feeder.
The lookout is pretty relaxed.
Headphones needs a good preen. The PBFD (Psitticine Beak & Feather Disease) inhibits their ability to make the powder for their feathers, and they can't preen properly. The lack of powder is also the reason for their shiny beaks. This does affect their ability to waterproof their feathers, and so they are more susceptible to the elements.
Headphones needs to go in the sanctuary. He needs a beak-trim and protection from the weather. If we can do this I think he'll be okay. He needs Baytril.
Headphones on the ground.
The Pezz dispenser.
A favourite game of many cockies is to get the seed out of the little holes at the bottom of this feeder. They are very patient, and will spend a lot of time to get a good seed, like a bit of corn, or a sunflower seed. We have so many different designs of feeders because we don't know what kind of feeders other residents are using, and the birds are used to. We know the corner house has a 'house' like feeder - like our green one. We want to attract sick birds, so we want them to be comfortable using whatever feeder they prefer, and different birds definitely prefer a specific feeder. Dr Ross Perry has advised us to cut a large piece of PVC pipe in half, and brace it at each end. This way, the seed is laid out along the feeder and the bullies can't keep the other birds from getting a feed. Well, that's the theory, and it sounds good, so we'll make one of them as well.
These birds conversed about the quality of the seed in the house feeder. Corn was popular today.
Love story.
I spotted this pair way up the back in a wattle tree. I'm still not quite sure what I've seen. These two birds were either courting, or it is a mother feeding a young bird. A mother feeding a young bird would not be unusual, except that it's July - and any fledglings are well and truly weaned by now, surely. The breeding season begins again in August. As we'll see, the bird with it's back to us doesn't appear to be a young bird, despite the fluffy clean look of it's feathers. (Her feathers?)
The upper most bird was regurgitating food and feeding it to the lower bird, also a courting behaviour. She was shaking so fast that in the above pic, even with a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second, her wings are blurred as she shakes back and forth very quickly, swallowing the food.
They kept at it:
In between regurgitations, they 'snuggled', with their heads very close together. She fluffed herself up as big as she could. It was spectacular:
Then back to the feeding:
Eventually though, he either ran out of food, or decided to stop feeding her, no matter how much she fluffed herself up and begged:
Eventually, he left, and she turned to give us a good look at her. I note the large, weathered beak, and particularly the discolouration of the feathers immediately around her nostrils. I don't think this is a fledgling. They gave me a glimpse into their personal lives, and I'm very grateful, and almost feel that I'm betraying them by publishing their rendezvous. Let's just keep this between us.
Brad Lemon
2/07/2013 4:45 PM
